


The Ebb and the Flow

by oneoneandone



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:28:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27582047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oneoneandone/pseuds/oneoneandone
Summary: Distance, a game, and a tattoo.
Relationships: Ashlyn Harris/Ali Krieger
Comments: 2
Kudos: 49





	The Ebb and the Flow

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt**   
>  _any sort of Krashlyn tattoo thing? everything I see has Ash getting the tattoo, so maybe Ali getting one?_

It’s not easy, being apart.

You’ve done it before, you’d learned how to live separately together.

But still, it’s not easy.

It takes trust and faith. It takes dedication and love, so much love. It takes knowing that this won’t last forever, that it’s something that’s for the best for you.

For both of you and the future you’re planning to build together.

—–

Your coach gives you a couple of days off after the Pride game. Ashlyn receives the same, and you’re grateful that your teams are so understanding, that they respect the sacrifices the two of you have made for them.

Four days, you have four days before she has to fly back down to Florida and you have to report back to practice.

You’re going to make the most of them.

Your home is going to feel like home again for the first time since the trailer with most of her things pulled out of the driveway.

Your shower will smell like her soap, and your pillows will smell like her shampoo, and her things will be spread across the bedroom floor as if she’d never packed them up, as if she’d never left.

And in the night, you’re going to fall asleep with her arms around you.

And in the morning, you’re going to wake with your head tucked over her shoulder.

And your life, for a few days, will be perfect. Messy, and loud, and full of Ashlyn.

Perfect.

—–

She lasts just long enough to kick the front door closed behind her.

And then she’s pressing you against the wall of the hallway, knocking a stack of mail off the table there as she pins your arms up above your head and kisses you until your world shrinks down to the feel of her lips against yours, her tongue, her teeth, the heat of her breath and the sounds at the back of her throat.

You’ve missed this. You gasp the words aloud as your head falls back against the wall, as Ashlyn moves to your neck, the sensitive skin there. Licking and sucking and tasting.

You’ve missed the way she makes you feel, like your skin is on fire, like your body and hers were made from the same dust of the same star.

There’s a mirror above the table you’d jostled in the rush to get through the door, and for a moment, you catch sight of yourself reflected in it, Ashlyn standing before you, the strong muscles of her back moving and shifting under the tight material of her shirt as her hands grasp roughly at your hips.

The contrast of the two of you together, light and dark, it’s fascinating. It’s the perfect partnership of strength and weakness. How your knees tremble but you know she’ll never let you fall. 

—–

It’s late, and you’re laying in bed, Ashlyn’s head resting on your stomach, her fingers tracing figures on your skin. 

You’d moved from the hall to the living room, pressed her into the soft cushions of the couch and buried yourself in the familiar feel of her, the familiar scent and taste of her.

You’d talked and you’d laughed and you’d filled each other in on everything you hadn’t mentioned on the phone every night you’d been apart. Ashlyn had cried and you’d kissed away her tears, holding her close and whispering soft reminders of all the reasons you’d fallen in love with her. How strong she is. How loving. How beautiful. How sweet and gentle and fun. 

Sleep is calling, you can feel it tugging at your body, pulse slowing and eyes drooping. But you’re not ready to let the day slip away into memory yet, not ready to close your eyes and wrap yourself around your love and say goodnight to the first of your short few days with her.

And then the gentle tickle of fingers against your breast still, and you know, she’s found it. 

You’d wondered, when you’d gotten it, how long it would take. 

Of course, you’d forgotten yourself when she’d unbuttoned your shirt in the front hallway, when she’d tangled her hands roughly in your hair and teased her lips over your neck, nipping with her teeth and soothing with her tongue. 

But now, in the afterglow, when your pulses have settled and you’ve remembered how to breathe, she sees. 

“Alex,” Ashlyn whispers, her voice always so gentle, “what’s this? How long …?” 

Her fingers trace the lines, and you bring your hand up to do the same. To take her hand in your own and follow the dark curves, the deep blues, of your still-new tattoo. 

“First day of the season,” you answer, “first game without you.” 

Her eyes meet yours, that sweet brown that feels like home. And you pull her up for a kiss before you answer the questions you can see there. 

“I was missing you,” you start, because that’s the most important thing, the thing that’s defined your life since Ashlyn was given the opportunity to follow one of her oldest dreams. “I was missing you and needing you and–”

You stop for a moment, trying to figure out how to say everything you were feeling, everything you are feeling, into words. 

“–and it felt … right,” you finish. “I knew as soon as the image popped into my head, that it was right.”

And you know Ashlyn understands. You know she’s felt the same. The tattoos over her body, the tattoos you love so much, you know what she believes. The tattoo chooses you, sees itself reflected in your heart. 

“Waves,” she says softly, and the smile she gives you is quiet, but amused. 

You take a breath before rolling, taking her by surprise, and moving to sit back against her hips.

“Waves,” you answer, bringing her hand up to rest under your breast where the new tattoo is hidden–for her eyes only–”because they always return.”

And then you kiss her, pouring everything you feel for her, for this woman who is your whole world. And neither of you talk for a while after that. 


End file.
